SUPPREMOL LAUNCHED AS A NEW COMPANY FINANCED BY Z-CUBE

Milan (Italy) and Munich (Germany) 28th November 2005 – Z-Cube, the corporate venture capital arm of the Zambon Group took another important step forwards in fostering pharmaceutical innovation, signing a contract to provide finance and expert support to SuppreMol GmbH. This marked the project's official launch as a new company after several years of basic research and proof of principle of a new therapeutic approach in autoimmune diseases. SuppreMol is a spin-off company of the Max-Planck-Institute of Biochemistry in Munich, Germany set up with the support of Garching Innovation GmbH, the technology transfer office of the Max Planck Society.

"Suppremol is an important asset in our portfolio, with immense potential thanks to its strong team and novel therapeutic approach", explained Claudio Semeraro, Executive Director of Z-Cube Srl. "Moreover, it is a noteworthy example of how successfully our research/industry partnership model is working in Europe as well as the United States".

Peter Buckel, Chief Executive Officer of SuppreMol GmbH added:"We are very pleased to be a member of the Z-Cube family. This partnership not only provides us with funding but also brings significant strategic and enterprise support which benefits from the expertise of an important pharmaceutical player in our target disease area. To our knowledge this is the first financing of a Biotech start-up in Germany this year".

Ulrich Mahr, senior start-up manager of Garching Innovation GmbH stated: "The combination of excellent research results from the Max-Planck Institute of Biochemistry with the strong pharmaceutical background of Z-Cube form a very fruitful basis for the future success of our new portfolio company SuppreMol".